“Over a thousand a day”: residents of the DPR and LPR filed more than 60 thousand applications for citizenship of the Russian Federation

Residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics filed over 60 thousand applications for citizenship of the Russian Federation by a simplified procedure. This was reported by the head of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Valentina Kazakova.

“To date, more than 60 thousand applications have been submitted from residents of the DPR and LPR, more than 25 thousand people have received citizenship,” Kazakova told reporters.

According to her, the number of people wishing to receive a Russian passport is constantly growing, more than 1 thousand applications are submitted per day. In this regard, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation intends to increase the number of employees of migration units.

“The total number of people who can use (simplified procedure. - RT ) is about 3 million citizens of Ukraine,” the representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs added.

The day before, the migration service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Donetsk People’s Republic reported that almost 10 thousand citizens of the DPR were accepted into Russian citizenship.

“In a simplified manner, 9,825 people received a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation,” the Donetsk News Agency said in a statement.

Recall, on April 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the simplified receipt of Russian passports by residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics. According to the document, the decision on the issue of citizenship of the Russian Federation should be made within three months from the date of submission of documents. The head of state ordered that law enforcement agencies, as well as relevant executive authorities, facilitate the issuance of Russian passports as part of a simplified procedure.

According to Putin, the law is designed to solve the humanitarian problems of the residents of Donbass and is not aimed at creating any problems for Kiev. In addition, to obtain a passport of the Russian Federation does not need a renunciation of Ukrainian citizenship.

At the same time, on July 17, the Russian leader signed a decree expanding the number of categories of residents of Ukraine who can apply for Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure. According to the document, the new rules apply to everyone who lived in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine before the events of 2014.

Let us note that in Ukraine, the decision made by the Russian authorities caused a wave of criticism, despite the fact that a number of European states are using this practice. In addition, on August 2, the chief military prosecutor of Ukraine Anatoly Matios announced that the country's authorities were collecting information about all residents of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics who had received Russian citizenship.

“The demand for citizenship of the Russian Federation will increase”

According to Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies of IMEMO RAS, the statistics provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation indicate that residents of the DPR and LPR cannot really take advantage of the rights that theoretically grant them Ukrainian citizenship

“When the decision was made on a simplified procedure, everything was quite clearly explained. A simplified procedure was established due to the fact that residents of these regions experience difficulties in the normal organization of their lives, since their status in Ukraine, let's say, is rather doubtful. They are declared either terrorists or separatists, and so on. Because of this, they cannot use all the benefits that they could use as citizens of Ukraine, ”the expert said.

“The fact that this appeal is widespread confirms that these people are indeed in constrained conditions. It is difficult for them to use the status of a Ukrainian citizen and it is preferable to have Russian citizenship, ”the source said.

In turn, political analyst Ivan Mezyukho believes that the number of people wishing to obtain Russian passports will continue to grow.

“I personally spoke with the residents of Donbass who are now living in Crimea. According to them, some of their relatives have not yet submitted documents, but are going to do it. I think the demand for this procedure will increase. And soon we will talk about an even larger number of residents of Donbass who have applied for Russian citizenship. Russia has an important peacekeeping function, providing citizenship to the residents of Donbass. Russia defends the rights and freedoms of people living in this territory. Because Kiev, in fact, restricts the inhabitants of this region in basic rights and freedoms, which violates its own Constitution and UN documents, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.